Pareto and Bar Charts

Date: 03/12/97 at 07:38:35
From: mike king
Subject: Pareto and Bar charts
Hello,
I am asking for my nephew. His book is somewhat shallow on this
subject. My question is, what are three distinguishing differences
between Pareto Charts and Bar Charts?
As I look at them from his book, it seems that they are very similar.
I can't seem to find much of a difference other than a percentage line
up the right side of a pareto chart.
Thanks.
Mike

Date: 03/12/97 at 14:49:21
From: Doctor Mike
Subject: Re: Pareto and Bar charts
Hello,
I used AltaVista to do an Internet search for information. A Pareto
chart is a special kind of bar chart used for a special purpose. The
following explanation and a good color example of one can be found at:
http://www.sas.com/rnd/app/qc/qcparish.html
The Pareto chart, used to determine priorities for quality improvement
activities, is a bar chart that displays the relative frequency of
problems in a process or operation. Each bar represents the relative
frequency of a problem, and the bars are arranged in decreasing order
from left to right. Sometimes a curve is superimposed to indicate the
cumulative percent of problem frequencies. The chart is named after
Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923), an Italian economist.
Pareto charts provide a tool for visualizing the Pareto principle,
which states that a small subset of problems (the "vital few")
affecting a common outcome tend to occur much more frequently than the
remainder (the "useful many"). A Pareto chart can be used to decide
which subset of problems should be solved first, or which problems
deserve the most attention. Pareto charts are often constructed to
provide a before-and-after comparison of the effect of control or
quality improvement measures.
Another nice example is at
http://www.theriver.com/qa-inc/paretoch.html
-Doctor Mike, The Math Forum
Check out our web site! http://mathforum.org/dr.math/